Fierce Impact - Julie Trettel

Chapter 1

My body was shaking as I froze behind a tree. Another bullet whizzed by my head, missing me by mere inches. I had to move, but I couldn’t make myself do it. The thick trees of the rainforest at least provided some cover from the mansion of Carlos Ramirez. They were shooting blindly, and they knew it, which was why I never bothered shooting back. It would have only given away my location.

“Do you see him?” one man yelled. He sounded a little too close for comfort, but I didn’t dare look up to confirm.

“Nothing,” another yelled back.

“Do you see anything?” the first man yelled.

“No. Nothing.”

“Ah!” the man yelled, followed by an extensive line of cursing and some destruction of what sounded like patio furniture.

I wanted to giggle just then, knowing that this was not Ramirez and whoever this guy was he was about to be in deep shit not only destroying Carlos’s property, but for losing me.

I waited in that spot through half the night, refusing to move long after I had stopped feeling my feet, and then my legs. Now the cold was setting in and I barely felt anything at all, just the stabbing pain of fear.

I thought they would have given up sooner, but they were waiting and watching in the hopes of flushing me out.

Just before dawn I heard the familiar voice of Carlos Ramirez.

“He is long gone, lost to the forest. Let’s hope he is smart enough to never return, because I never forget a face and if ever see his again, I will slit his throat and watch his life blood pour from him.”

I gulped hard. The steel tone of Ramirez’s voice told me he wasn’t joking.

When the area cleared and another hour had passed without any noise, I cautiously peeked out of my cover. Seeing the coast was clear, I slowly and quietly made my descent deeper into the jungle.

Once I was a safe distance from the house and certain I was in the clear, I stripped out of my clothes and shifted into my wolf form. I shredded the clothes with my sharp claws before returning to my human form.

All I had with me was my backpack. Fortunately, in a hidden compartment in the bottom I always stored a change of clothes. I never knew when I’d need them, but at times like this I was glad I had them. I pulled the clothes out and ripped off the latex covering my face and stuffed it into the hidden compartment.

“Won’t be needing you again on this assignment,” I told the fake face.

Changing with a newfound urgency, I grabbed my knife and rolled up my pant leg as I sliced a superficial cut along my calf and allowed it to drip blood out onto the pile of ruined clothes.

Normally I would avoid spilling my own blood at all costs, but this was necessary. It would draw local wildlife in to finish the job I’d begun and spread my ripped clothes throughout the forest. If any of Ramirez’s guys happened across them, they would only find bloody pieces here and there.

“RIP Tyler Martin,” I said softly before turning and making my way out of the rainforest and back to safety.

It took me half the day to get back to my hotel in the city.

“Dammit!” I said to the empty room throwing my gun down on the dresser. “Tyler was my best cover and I blew it by moving too soon. I should have known that silent alarm was on the relic, a rookie mistake I won’t make again.”

Still beating myself up over it, I grabbed an MRE bar and ate it. I needed the energy. Exhaustion had fully set in. I knew I couldn’t go on any longer, but I did force myself to shower before crawling naked into bed.

The problem with sleep was, that was when my demons surfaced the hardest.

When I awoke the next morning, I was groggy at first and it took a while for reality to sink back in. I hadn’t dreamed at all throughout the night; no ghosts had haunted me. It was a testament to how wiped out I had been and how badly I had needed sleep.

Frustrated, I just wanted to take a few days off and regroup, but I had overheard Carlos say he had a buyer inquiring about the vase and had instructed his right-hand man to proceed with the auction. The transaction was expected to take place in three days’ time.

That didn’t leave